While advances in technology have improved many aspects of airship operations, docking an airship to a mooring mast still remains a labor intensive and operationally difficult task. In fact, the majority of accidents involving lighter-than-air airships occur during a docking procedure.
In general, docking an airship requires releasing mooring lines from the airship, which are then grasped by a ground crew. Next, the ground crew directs the nose section of the airship into an anchoring mechanism on the mooring mast. While this process is time-consuming and difficult under ideal conditions, if winds are gusting or there are significant up and down drafts, docking becomes an ever more difficult process. This is primarily due to the large cross-sectional area of airships and their otherwise limited maneuverability.
In light of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for docking a lighter-than-air airship to a mooring mast that uses a thruster mounted on the fore end of the airship to maneuver the fore end of the airship into position for docking. It is another object of the present invention to reduce the required number of ground crew members by providing additional airborne maneuverability to airships during the docking process. It is yet another object of this invention to make the docking process for airships safer. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a docking system for lighter-than-air airships that is easy to use, relatively simple to implement, and comparatively cost effective.